Sunday 5/20 S.W.A.T. Covert Mission. In & Out Without a Trace…

[Wingnut]

I’ve been too busy in the past month or so to spend any serious time in the surf. Only hopping out to local spots a couple of hours in the morning here and there and a half day trip to Santa Barbara about a week ago to fish with my Northern S.W.A.T. Brothers.

Lieutenant Bones and I have been planning a special mission to this one particular A.O. for quite some time now… Since January 1^st of this year to be exact.

A quick surgical drop into the area for a few hours, raise Hell with the local residence that have been in living in peace for far too long and disappear leaving only our boot prints on the sand.

The security level of this “Black Ops” was so tight, that most of the other S.W.A.T. members didn’t even know the mission was taking place until we were extracted from the area and on our way out.
S.W.A.T. Team Members: I will send out a classified PM shortly, debriefing the complete mission.

Mission Data:
A.O. Classified
Duration: 5:15am - 9:30am
Technique: Throwing LC’s.
Fish Count: (2) Yellow Fin Croaker, (3) Calico Bass, (2) short Halibut, (1) legal Halibut 23”.

Cool, clear morning, slight on shore wind, low incoming tide, water temp. 62 degrees, Flat 1 ft. swells in 10-12 second intervals, good water clarity, moderate salad condition, no bait fish presence.

We hit the beach at grey light after an extensive hike in near darkness. Found a few local residence that wanted to spar, so we promptly kicked their a** and sent them back crying to Poseidon. All fish released.

One of my Calico, the biggest went 18”.






One of the YFC.


Great condition, look at all the structure at low tide at this A.O.




It was cool to wade right up to the kelp bed and cast right to it.


I was a clumsy mess all morning, complete comedy… totally accident prone.
First mishap, I caught a nice Yellow Fin Croaker. As I was trying to release it while standing in the surf, the line snapped and there goes the fish with a brand new LC stuck to its face. About 10 minutes later, Mike told me that he saw that fish cruising in the surf dragging my LC. He tried to snag it with a couple of casts before it disappeared.

Then this happened… don’t even ask how it got this bad, lol.


Always carry a back-up… back in action with a lefty.


Next act of folly, I brushed up against a boiler rock and poked a tiny hole in the knee area of my Simms boot foot G4 waders. Just big enough to make my foot damp.
Then on the hike out, I stumbled, fell and rolled into some Cactus… spent about 10 minutes picking the quills out of my hand and some undesirable areas, lol.


Anyways, the catching made up for all the mishaps of the morning, kinda...
My 6^th legal Halibut of the year… 23”. Released to grow and become a 42 incher, that’s when I will catch it and beat Bones record, Hahahahaha










Bait vs Bait??? New Species! LOL


What is this Alien looking thing?!?


Exploring the tide pools. How cool is this?








Bonus pics…

Mike demanded that I don't post up this pic, even tried to take my camera and delete the photo.
Helloooooooooo Mike, you are giving ME orders???
You look so masculine in this pic bro.


Talking about masculinity... here are some nice Summer bloom.










Yikes!


Around 10:00 o’clock when we were about to head out for brunch, I get a call from Marc (BSP). He and his Dad Nick was fishing nearby and wanted to know if we wanted to meet them for lunch. So we met up with them, ate lunch, hung out a bit and headed home… another successful day.


Mike, that was a lot of fun my friend. Been quite some time since we did that much walking and hiking. My body was actually a little achy the next morning, lol.
Thanks for having my six buddy… good luck out there this week. I hope you get another PB WSB.
BTW, I don’t want to hear anything more about that midget. Hahahahaha

Marc and Nick, always a pleasure being in the company of the Father & Son S.W.A.T. Team. We always have lots of laughs when we get together in or out of the surf. Thanks for the cool swim bait Marc. I will put it to good use in the harbor.




“Religion is a man sitting in church thinking about fishing. Faith is a man out fishing, thinking about God.”


Have a wonderful week everybody!

Arthur (Wingnut)


Parting Shot.
S.W.A.T. Canine Agent.




Extra Materials: Other times, other places…

This was when Mike & I headed North a couple of weeks ago to fish with the Master Yoda Mikey (Exfactor) and Bill (Which way Out).
Mikey mixed it up with a 5 ft Leopard Shark that took him up and down the beach before popping loose, what a battle!
Hook up!


The big Leo taking Mikey for a walk, lol.


Still going 20 minutes later… See what you get for fishing with 8# test line?


Then Mikey snag this parachute, lol.


He waded out there to get his LC back and found all kinds of stuff wrapped up in this thing. A rod & reel combo???


And all these lures attached to it, we managed to detach a few… Anybody recognize these lures?








More extra stuff…

Marc, get off my Rock or I'll tell the Midget where you live!


I hate it when you get down to the beach and see this…


Ever tried Halibut Spaghetti? One of the Iron Chef’s creations… delicious!


Mike (Bones) and Frank (iLLest)




Yeah, you wish Mike, PB? lol.

[frankjz]

Hey Arthur,

What a great report. Lots of fun to read and lots of great fish to make the hike worthwhile. I really liked the modified LC with the flames you used with the Halibut. Very cool. You ought to patent that design! Great stuff, thanks.

BTW, I was out in the surf on Friday and caught a Calico myself, about 15". I didn't have my camera with me, and of course I released it.

Cheers,

fz

[PONTOON]

Awesome post Arthur!

I heard you two were going to be out and about this weekend but the intel was so tight that the link to the SWAT Spy Drone was jammed. I knew that wherever you and bones headed off to there were going to be casualties.

Great job out there you two and thanks for the report.

[murrieta angler]

WOW!
Extra nice report Arthur...
I sure would have liked to join the 2 of you on Sunday, but Saturday just wore me out...
Congrats with your 6th legal flatty...here I go again trying to play catch up with you. I caught 2 legals this past week...
I knew that A.O. was goint to be good, seems the only thing missing was bait fish, you know how it gets when they are present...
Have to agree with you on all the beautiful flowers in bloom right now, oh, by the way, doesn't Mike look like Thumper ( the lil skunk, from the Bambi movie ) in the flower shot?!?
No worries Mike, we all know you just reek of MACHISMO!!!
Good to see all the past trips as well in your report with the occasional picture here and there...
Glad you were able to get out and also spend some time with friends as well...
Thanks for the report and pics,
Robert
<><

p.s. Absolutely loved your parting quote....

[fishshep]

Cool Report & Pics

Gonna take me a little

road trip in June up there too

[Which Way Out]

Another great report Arthur.
I can only imagine how it would be if you could fish more often, well kinda of like 2 years ago I guess. Just happy to see you guys made it up here 2 weeks ago.


WWO

[Native Gal]

Hey Wingnut,
Brought a smile to my face to see two of my favorite S.W.A.T. Brothers chill'n in the surf. Enjoyed the read. Had a few laughs regarding all your mishaps. Cactus needles in undesirable places???? haha!!! All I could think about was when Billy Crystal's character in City Slickers was asked to suck out the poison from the supposed snake bite and it was just a cactus needle in the guys arse, LOL!!!!
Mike looks good in flowers. Take care guys.

NG

[rusn007]

Great report! Sounds like you found some new species! lol
The calico looks really nice.

[midgettosser1]

Nice bass.
Looks like your hike with Mike was a little more bromantic than mine.

[bachiboy]

Hey Arthur,

Nice job on the legal and checkers. 18" is a damn nice fish, boat or surf. Sardine? I thought you didn't bait and wait? Sorry to hear about the run in with the cactus, the birds nest soup and the hole in the waders...sounds like some true "bachi" type moments.

I hear you're pretty busy these days but hope we get a chance to run into each other out there some time.

Don